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Duke Ellington: King of Jazz.
Biography of an internationally acclaimed jazz musician who as a young man was torn between a career in art and music.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1972
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December 16, 2009
Duke Ellington: King of Jazz
5 out of 5
King of Jazz was a well-written and informative biography about one of America’s finest composers. Duke was a great Jazz musician and wound up composing music for notable figures around the world. Elizabeth Rider Montgomery captured Duke’s personality well when she used descriptive text like “the piano keys danced under his nimble fingers.” She told his story in chronological order starting with Duke as a young boy growing up in Washington D.C. with his friends. Every aspect of his life was covered including his family, trials and tribulations, and successes and failures. There was an extensive index at the end of the 96 page book, although I would have liked to see a glossary as well. The font of the text was quite large, but there were some difficult vocabulary words contained in the pages. Words such as sacred, circumstances, and approvingly are a few of the more challenging words, which is why I gave the book a higher reading level despite the large font.
The illustrations included in King of Jazz gave an accurate visual representation of Duke’s story. I liked the fact that some pictures were illustrator Paul Frame’s rendition of the main points of the composure’s life and others were actual photographs of Duke in action. These worked very well with the descriptive text, which was written to give the reader an accurate view of the great musician. I gave the book five out of five stars because of the descriptive text and various illustrations that were used. Two subject areas into which the book could be integrated could be history and language arts. For a history lesson, students could research other great musicians alive during Ellington’s era. Students could compare and contrast different biographies of musicians. Students could connect to the idea of being persistent after something that you desire, even when obstacles stand in the way between you and your dream. The recommended reading level for the book would be for students in third or fourth grade.
5 out of 5
King of Jazz was a well-written and informative biography about one of America’s finest composers. Duke was a great Jazz musician and wound up composing music for notable figures around the world. Elizabeth Rider Montgomery captured Duke’s personality well when she used descriptive text like “the piano keys danced under his nimble fingers.” She told his story in chronological order starting with Duke as a young boy growing up in Washington D.C. with his friends. Every aspect of his life was covered including his family, trials and tribulations, and successes and failures. There was an extensive index at the end of the 96 page book, although I would have liked to see a glossary as well. The font of the text was quite large, but there were some difficult vocabulary words contained in the pages. Words such as sacred, circumstances, and approvingly are a few of the more challenging words, which is why I gave the book a higher reading level despite the large font.
The illustrations included in King of Jazz gave an accurate visual representation of Duke’s story. I liked the fact that some pictures were illustrator Paul Frame’s rendition of the main points of the composure’s life and others were actual photographs of Duke in action. These worked very well with the descriptive text, which was written to give the reader an accurate view of the great musician. I gave the book five out of five stars because of the descriptive text and various illustrations that were used. Two subject areas into which the book could be integrated could be history and language arts. For a history lesson, students could research other great musicians alive during Ellington’s era. Students could compare and contrast different biographies of musicians. Students could connect to the idea of being persistent after something that you desire, even when obstacles stand in the way between you and your dream. The recommended reading level for the book would be for students in third or fourth grade.
Displaying 1 of 1 review